Week 8 - First Full Week in Sweden, Down!

Sweden is an interesting country. I don't remember what I did each day so I will just throw some highlights together.

We go out each morning and talk to people in the street for a few hours. It's good practice to just chat with random people and hear how others speak. We've meet some interesting people. Sweden has a lot of immigrants. So, there are a ton of people from the middle east here, lots of Muslims. We have been preached to about the Muslim faith quite a few times, even for a while about communism. The Jehovah's Witness try to argue with us too and prove us wrong... oh well. But we teach more immigrants than Swedes right now. 

We had a few appointments with people to teach but they fell through so we only taught one. We have an investigator with a baptism date but he doesn't have residency in Sweden yet, so it's a tricky situation. My trainer and I have cleaned and organized our apartment. We have books of Mormon in 20 different languages. I’m sure we’ll use them here in Sweden.

My Swedish is getting better! My trainer and I speak Swedish outside of the apartment so my understanding and speaking improves every day. I could understand a lot more at church yesterday than the previous week, but I have a long way to go. 

Once a week we play fotboll (soccer) with a bunch of recent converts or other people we meet on the street and invite. So, Thursday night we played a game with a group of Persians, interesting experience.

Since my trainer and I came new to the area, we are still working to get to know the investigators. We've weeded a lot of them out so after this week the real work should start. Yesterday me and the other elders in the area went over to a recent convert’s house for dinner. They are two Norwegian twins who are 24, super funny. They talk crazy fast Swedish and are super animated, fun to hang out with them for dinner.

This week I studied a bit about adversity.  I read a verse in the Book of Mormon:

 “And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” Book of Ether 12:6

We’re promised a witness will come after the trial of our faith. God gives us challenges so we can learn from them. This week I've had lots of people ignore me on the street, close doors on me, swear, etc. It's sad because they are rejecting the message of Christ, and it's tough for us missionaries too. But no matter what the challenge is, if we ask God for comfort, he can give it to us. He won't take the trial away, but he can give us strength to learn from it. 

Sweden is great, the mission is fun, and the work moves on! The food is a little off so I’ve lost some weight, but we’re also walking and riding bikes everywhere. I'll try and shoot out some more pictures next week. Thank you for emailing me! I really appreciate hearing from all of you. If you can, send emails as a word document and I can print them out and read it during the week. Hint, hint!

Love you all, 

Äldste Gordon